Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments xi

Chronology of Putin’s xvii

ONE Economic Roller Coaster: 2000–17 1 Rise and Decline of Growth Rates 4 The Lost Decade 7

TWO Transformation Derailed 13 The Gradual Opening of Russia 14 Removing Allies 18 Winner Takes All 23 Put Yourself in Putin’s Shoes 24 vi Contents

THREE The Key Element of Control 29 Enemy Number One: The Media Tycoon 31 Too Dangerous to Have Such a Friend 36 New Fears 42 There Is No Him without Cronies 43 Self-­Censorship 45 Attack on the Runet 48 A Tried and True Tool 54 Just Business 58 Sovereign Internet 60

FOUR A Unifying System of Power 71 Building from Scratch 72 Checks and Balances 73 A Major Threat 74 Getting Off the Political Stage 76 The Court Says “Stop!” 82 Dotting the i’s 83 Everybody Is under Control 87 Deceptive Concession 90 Financial Leash 93

FIVE Just a Dream 107 There Was No Need 107 First Rollbacks 109 Judicial Hierarchy 110 Contents vii

A Furtive Plan 112 The Other Side of the Coin 114 Demolishing the Pillars 114 Under the Kremlin’s Control 116 No One Is Immune 117 Relying on Parliament 119 Rule by Telephone 121 An Overactive Justice 124 The Second Advent 127 Humiliation 128 A Creative Justice 129 The Purge 130 An Irremovable Justice 132 An Unwanted Institution 134 Was There a Reason? 136 Purge at the Top 137

SIX Preventing Competition 149 Cohabitation Was Possible 150 From Hatred to Friendship 152 Bureaucracy Subdues Politicians 154 Control over the Duma 155 The Oligarchs’ Revenge: Fear of the Past 160 No Space for Opposition to His Majesty 162 The Upper Chamber Has Not Been Forgotten 165 Indiscreet Desire 167 Prokhorov’s Comet 173 No Right to Be Elected 176 viii Contents

An Unexpected Occurrence 177 Forget It—­The Thaw Has Ended! 181 Absolute Dominance 182 There Is No Room for Coincidence 187

SEVEN Risky Business 205 Carrying Out the President’s Orders 206 Gray Whales Are to Be Loved 212 Pushed Out in a Friendly Way 216 A Story with a Happy Ending . . . 222 . . . And Then Putin Called 226 When Partners Can’t Agree 233 We Are Just Returning What Has Been Privatized 241 Abiding by the Law 246 No Way but to Sell 253 Walking a Tightrope 256 But One Claw Snagged, the Bird Is Bagged 263 You Cannot Hide behind Property Papers! 265

EIGHT Nothing Personal, Just Your Business 281

NINE Looking Forward 299

Index 315 Contents ix

list of figures

FIGURE 1-­1. Russian Economic Growth, 1998–2018 2

FIGURE 3-1. Death of Independent Television: Shares of News Channels Viewed by the Moscow Television Audience 41

FIGURE 3-2. Consumption of News Sources in Russia 44

FIGURE 3-3. Shares of Individual Age Categories in Total Television-Viewing Audience (Age 18+) and Internet Penetration (Age 16+) in Russia 50

FIGURE 3-4. Number of Prosecutions (Criminal Cases and Convictions) on Political Grounds in Russia, 2011–August 2018 57

FIGURE 4-1. Competition in the Gubernatorial Elections in Russia, 2000–04 and 2013–17 92

FIGURE 4-2. Share of Regional Budgets in the Russian Federation’s Consolidated Budget Revenues and Expenditures 96

FIGURE 5-1. Number of Changes to Laws Regulating the Russian Judicial System, 2001–18 125

FIGURE 6-1. Evaluation of Fraud during the Vote Tabulation in the December 2003 Elections 158

FIGURE 6-2. Evaluation of Fraud during the Vote Tabulation in the March 2000 159

FIGURE 6-3. Electoral Ratings of Party, 2006–11 167

FIGURE 6-4. Evaluation of Fraud during the Vote Tabulation in the March 2008 Presidential Election 172

FIGURE 6-5. Evaluation of Fraud during the Vote Tabulation in the December 2011 State Duma Elections 179

FIGURE 6-6. Evaluation of Vote Fraud during the Vote Tabulation in the December 2016 State Duma Elections 185

FIGURE 6-7. Distribution of Electoral Districts in the 2016 State Duma Elections Based on the Turnout and United Russia’s Official Election Results 186

FIGURE 8-1. Criminal Cases and Sentences against Entrepreneurs, 2008–17 288 x Contents

FIGURE 8-2. Russia’s Position in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Ranking and Global Competitiveness Index 290

FIGURE 8-3. Russia’s Position on Certain Components of the Institutions Subindex of the Global Competitiveness Index, 2005–16 291

list of tables

TABLE 3-1. Methods of Restricting Free Speech in Russia, 2011–17 53

TABLE 6-1. Indicators of Political Competition in Russia Based on the Results of State Duma Elections, 1995–2016 191

TABLE 6-2. Election Fraud in Russia, 1999–2018 193

TABLE 8-1. Growing Activity of the Secret Police in Russia, 2011–17 292

TABLE 9-1. Number of Changes to Laws Regulating the Russian Electoral System and Political Competition 305